12-27-2016, 12:06 PM
(11-22-2016, 08:13 AM)Odin Wrote:(11-22-2016, 01:55 AM)Warren Dew Wrote: Actually, I fought the Cold War to protect freedom, including free speech. Free speech means nothing if it doesn't include speech we disagree with.
Unlimited tolerance must lead to the disappearance of tolerance. If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them. — In this formulation, I do not imply, for instance, that we should always suppress the utterance of intolerant philosophies; as long as we can counter them by rational argument and keep them in check by public opinion, suppression would certainly be unwise. But we should claim the right to suppress them if necessary even by force; for it may easily turn out that they are not prepared to meet us on the level of rational argument, but begin by denouncing all argument; they may forbid their followers to listen to rational argument, because it is deceptive, and teach them to answer arguments by the use of their fists or pistols. We should therefore claim, in the name of tolerance, the right not to tolerate the intolerant. We should claim that any movement preaching intolerance places itself outside the law, and we should consider incitement to intolerance and persecution as criminal, in the same way as we should consider incitement to murder, or to kidnapping, or to the revival of the slave trade, as criminal
-Karl Popper
Exactly. Freedom of expression implies that people have the capacity to discern credibility from nonsense, and good from evil. But this implies a populace wise enough to determine from reasoning even against religious teaching (because religious teaching can be misguided or corrupt) the difference between good and evil and the necessity to choose good over evil; people must also develop some capacity to discern reliability through logical processes even against visceral feelings. Visceral feelings might tell us that theft is wrong, but they can also tell us that one's race is superior to that of another.
Now how do we impress this upon people sated with recorded video and music and who play too many video games?
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.